The South Arts is seeking applications for its Arts in Rural Places Grants.
Donor Name: South Arts
State: Selected States
County: All Counties
Type of Grant: Grant
Deadline: All Time
Size of the Grant: $1000 to $10,000
Grant Duration: Less than 1 Year
Details:
Arts in Rural Places Grants are an opportunity for organizations in South Arts’ nine-state region to receive artist fee support to engage Southern guest film directors, traditional, visual, and performing artists, or writers from inside or outside of the presenter’s state. Artist fee support is awarded for:
- film (documentary, fiction, experimental, and animation),
- traditional arts (music, dance, storytelling, and visual arts/crafts),
- visual arts (crafts, drawing, experimental, painting, photography, sculpture, and mixed media),
- performing arts (theater, music, opera, musical theater, and dance), and
- literary arts (fiction, creative nonfiction, and poetry).
Funding Information
- Based on the artist fee, the maximum request is $3,000. The grant requires a dollar-for-dollar cash match (for example, an applicant that requests $3,000 must provide a $3,000 cash match for a project with a $6,000 artist fee).
- Projects must take place between October 1, 2025 and June 30, 2026.
Eligibility Criteria
The following is a top-level list of the main eligibility requirements necessary to be considered for an Arts in Rural Places Grant. Please refer to the full list of eligibility requirements in the Guidelines section below.
- Be a tax-exempt nonprofit or an official unit of local, county, or state government based within South Arts’ nine-state service area (AL, FL, GA, KY, LA, MS, NC, SC, or TN).
- Be in a rural, isolated, or small community (these are communities that are geographically isolated, communities isolated due to socioeconomic factors, outmigration, education gaps, and/or lack of infrastructure, or cities with populations of 50,000 people or less)
- Engage a professional artist or ensemble who resides within South Arts’ nine-state service area (AL, FL, GA, KY, LA, MS, NC, SC, or TN)
- Have a Unique Entity Identifier (UEI)
- Provide a dollar-for-dollar cash match
- Only organizations in rural and isolated communities (communities that are geographically isolated or isolated due to socioeconomic factors, outmigration, education gaps, and/or lack of infrastructure), or in small cities with populations of 50,000 people or less are eligible for this grant program.
- Only 501(c)(3) nonprofits and governmental organizations in South Arts’ nine-state region are eligible to apply. South Arts’ nine-state region includes Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee. Applicants can include but are not limited to community cultural organizations, community centers, churches, schools/colleges/universities, libraries, artist ensembles, producing and presenting organizations, museums, film festivals, and visual and performing arts centers.
- Applicants must have 501(c)(3) not-for-profit, tax-exempt status; be an official unit of local, county, or state government; or be a federally recognized tribal community. Applications are accepted from any tribal community with not-for-profit, tax-exempt status. For nonprofit applicants, tax-exempt status will be verified by a third-party entity. Governmental applicants must provide proof of government status. South Arts does not accept applications from fiscal agents for this grant program.
- Applicants must have a Unique Entity Identifier (UEI). Applications will not be accepted from organizations that do not have a UEI. Obtaining your UEI could take a minimum of 30 days.
- Eligible projects must take place in South Arts’ nine-state region. Unless there are special circumstances, projects should occur in the applicant’s state (please contact South Arts to discuss special conditions).
- Eligible projects must include the engagement of a guest artist or company (i.e., a film director, traditional artist, visual artist, performing artist/ensemble, or writer) that resides in South Arts’ region. The engagement must include a guest artist that resides inside or outside of the applicant’s state. A guest artist/company is defined as an artist/company that (a) is contracted by the applicant to deliver services or activities ) and (b) does not have a professional or personal affiliation with the applicant or conflict of interest. An applicant will be considered to have a conflict of interest when the contracted artist and/or applicant:
- includes the applicant or the applicant’s spouse, minor, child, partner, or family member;
- serves as an officer, director, trustee, agent, partner, or employee of the applicant/nonprofit organization; and/or
- has a relationship that might compromise the integrity of the project and its use of funds.
- Supported disciplines include film (documentary, fiction, experimental, and animation); traditional arts (music, dance, storytelling, and visual arts/crafts); visual arts (crafts, drawing, experimental, painting, photography, sculpture, and mixed media); performing arts (theater, music, opera, musical theater, and dance); and literary arts (fiction, creative nonfiction, and poetry).
- Need help finding a Southern artist? View artists who have been supported by South Arts in the past or look through our State Arts Agency partners’ rosters.
- Organizations that received a South Arts’ Presentation, Traditional Arts Touring, or Express Grant in FY24 or FY25 are not eligible for this grant cycle.
- FY26 Arts in Rural Places Grant recipients are not eligible for the FY26 Arts in Community grant program.
- Screening partners currently receiving funding through South Arts’ Southern Circuit program are not eligible to receive additional funding for Southern Circuit film screenings.
- Applicants are limited to one Arts in Rural Places Grant application per South Arts fiscal year or grant cycle.
- Applicants who have failed to comply with the grant terms and conditions by the application deadline for this program will not be considered for funding from this grant program until they have completed a conversation with program director Nikki Estes. This includes applicants who did not properly acknowledge South Arts’ AND the National Endowment for the Arts’ support in programs/press materials for any previous South Arts grant or applicants who did not submit the final report for any previous South Arts grant.
For more information, visit South Arts.
